Sagi, I (Sagi, Itay); Yechiam, E (Yechiam, Eldad) Amusing titles in scientific journals and article citation JOURNAL OF INFORMATION SCIENCE, 34 (5): 680-687 OCT 2008

[Eugene Garfield]

E-mail Address: yeldad at tx.technion.ac.il 

Author(s): Sagi, I (Sagi, Itay); Yechiam, E (Yechiam, Eldad) 

Title: Amusing titles in scientific journals and article citation 

Source: JOURNAL OF INFORMATION SCIENCE, 34 (5): 680-687 OCT 2008 

Language: English 

Document Type: Article 

Author Keywords: citation analysis; humor; research evaluation; writing 
style 

Keywords Plus: HUMOR; TEXTBOOKS; PRESTIGE; LENGTH; IMPACT 

Abstract: The present study examines whether the use of humor in 
scientific article titles is associated with the number of citations an 
article receives. Four judges rated the degree of amusement and 
pleasantness of titles of articles published over 10 years (from 1985 to 
1994) in two of the most prestigious journals in psychology, Psychological 
Bulletin and Psychological Review. We then examined the association 
between the levels of amusement and pleasantness and the article's monthly 
citation average. The results show that, while the pleasantness rating was 
weakly associated with the number of citations, articles with highly 
amusing titles (2 standard deviations above average) received fewer 
citations. The negative association between amusing titles and subsequent 
citations cannot be attributed to differences in the title length and 
pleasantness, number of authors, year of publication, and article type 
(regular article vs comment). These findings are discussed in the context 
of the importance of titles for signalling an article's content. 

Addresses: [Yechiam, Eldad] Technion Israel Inst Technol, Fac Ind Engn & 
Management, Behav Sci Area, IL-32000 Haifa, Israel 

Reprint Address: Yechiam, E, Technion Israel Inst Technol, Fac Ind Engn & 
Management, Behav Sci Area, IL-32000 Haifa, Israel. 

E-mail Address: yeldad at tx.technion.ac.il 

Cited Reference Count: 23 

Publisher: SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD 

Publisher Address: 1 OLIVERS YARD, 55 CITY ROAD, LONDON EC1Y 1SP, ENGLAND 

ISSN: 0165-5515 

DOI: 10.1177/0165551507086261 

29-char Source Abbrev.: J INFORM SCI 

ISO Source Abbrev.: J. Inf. Sci. 

Source Item Page Count: 8 

Subject Category: Computer Science, Information Systems; Information 
Science & Library Science 

ISI Document Delivery No.: 349UQ 

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